Nordic Style Christmas Card–Designed for Chocolate Baroque

 

So excited to share my first design created for Chocolate Baroque.

Hope that you like this Nordic styled card. I just love the reindeer – a bit fiddly to cut out but well worth the effort.

Materials

• Sparkling Trees and Christmas Candlelight stamp sets
• Smooth pale blue card, small piece white card, Kraft Card
• Adhesive, 3D gel glue, foam pads
• Inkpads: Versamark, Versafine (Black Onyx), Distress Ink (Gathered Twigs)
• White gel pen, Polychromos pencil (dark brown), Soft pencil and eraser
• WOW embossing powder - Superfine Metallic Gold Rich
• Clear glitter glue, gold glitter glue, Glossy Accents (Ranger), and white PVA pearls
• Sharp pricking tool or needle

How to make it

1. Make a side folded card base with Kraft Card to give approx. 6” X 7.5” (15 X 19cm) finished size (portrait). Prick a border around the edge and add faux stitching with white gel pen.
2. Cut a large circle approx. 5.5” (14cm), and smaller circle approx. 2.75” (7cm) diameter from blue card. Stamp the smaller circle with the stars stamp, and the larger with snowflakes, using Versamark and heat emboss with gold powder. Enhance the circle edges with Distress Ink and add dots of clear and gold glitter glue for sparkle. [Stamping onto the larger circle: draw guidelines to divide into 8 equal sections and stamp the larger snowflake around the edge, fill in with the smaller stamp off the edge – erase guidelines after stamping]. Glue the larger circle and mount the smaller circle with foam, onto the card front. Draw more faux stitching lines around the circle.
3. Stamp the fir tree branch with Versamark, 3 times onto blue card. Cut out and add dots of clear glitter glue. Mount onto card front with 3D gel glue. Draw ‘landscape’ lines with white gel pen and add a bit more glitter sparkle.
4. Stamp the sentiment onto Kraft Card, and the reindeer onto white card, with Versafine. Colour with brown pencil and the lettering with white gel pen. Add Glossy Accents to both, cut out when dry and glue to card with 3D gel. Finish the card with PVA pearls around the large circle.

Peacock Card using wood carved printing block

Here is a card that I made for my beautiful sister.

I had fun making this one with inky backgrounds and mica paints for colouring – and of course a bit of glitter. The main peacock and background layer stamps are wooden carved stamps from Colouricous. The sentiment and die cut flowers are from Heartfelt Creations (Sentiment from Bold Vintage Floret Background set, Flowers from Sun Kissed Fleur stamps and die sets).

Fairy Princess Castle Card

This one was created for a little friend for her 5th Birthday.

This was so much fun to create. The main castle shapes were cut on the Silhouette Cameo using a cutting file from the Silhouette Store. The  letters and sentiment were digitised and created in the design software. I then further embellished the castle with die cuts – branches (Spellbinders Blossom), Birds (Sissix), Daisy border (Sheena Douglass), small flowers and leaves from a Forsythia die (Susan’s Garden). A bucket of glitter … et voila!

Birthday Card for a Little Friend

Birthday card for a little friend who is 5 this weekend.
I used background patterned paper from Heartfelt Creations (Peacock Paisley set). I snipped around the Peacock so that I could slip the framed mat behind and make him stand proud. I then embellished with ready made chipboard shapes and butterflies from my stash. Finished with silver peel offs, tonnes of sparkly glitter glue and cosmic shimmer PVA pearls, plus curled floristry ribbons. A little OTT but I think she will like it.

3D Boat Collage–Using Chocolate Baroque Seashell Collage Stamps

I made this fun project as a birthday ‘card’ for a male friend of mine. I love the poem and this set of stamps from Chocolate Baroque.

Materials Used

• Template from Dreamies CD – Something to Treasure.
• A4 Kraft card – 4 sheets to make the boat.
• White stamping card, scrap papers and old dictionary (to make Tide book).
• Piece of string made into a rope, 3 pearls, bit of old chain, old vegetable net bag.
• Small rectangular dies and tag die (Heartfelt Creations – Cut, Mat, Create and Luggage sets), Seaweed die (Create and Craft Couture – Sea Siren set) coloured with alcohol marker (Spectrum Noir JG6). These could be substituted with similar dies or punches.
• Distress inks (Ranger) – Vintage Photo, Old Paper, Tattered Rose, Mustard Seed, Pumice Stone, Broken China and Stormy Sea.
• Archival Dye based ink – dark brown – for stamping the images.
• Fine red and brown marker pens, glitter markers in various colours (Marvy Twinklette),
• Glass mat (or preferred stamping surface), Ink blending mat (SplodgeAway), sponges and water pen for colouring.
• Woodgrain clear stamp (My Minds Eye) – but could use patterned card printed from the CD instead (to make the boat).
• Seashell Collage Stamps - Chocolate Baroque

I keep sketch books to catalogue my stamp collection. This is the page showing the stamps in this set.

Creating the project

1. Created the boat from Kraft card following instructions provided on the template CD – before piecing and gluing I stamped the woodgrain texture using Vintage Photo Distress ink. I added an extra bench seat to enable attachment of embellishments.
2. Made a little Tide booklet from scrap paper and old dictionary pages. Also used some scrunched kraft card to create a small area of sand to display shells and embellishments.
3. Stamped all the images onto white stamping card and cut out. Dies were used to cut out the sentiment and create the tag.
4. Images were then coloured with distress inks using an ink blending mat and a water brush or sponge. Subtle sparkling highlights were added to the shells using glitter pens. Added faux stitching with pen around the poem and tag to give a frame.
5. Put it all together using foam pads and 3D glue gel. The tag was left hanging so that it is possible to add a message to the recipient on the reverse.

Dog Walk–Stampscapes Scene

I love using stamps to create a scene – I just to drift away into an imaginary world.

Materials Used

• Coated glossy Clarity card (Claritystamps) and scrap copy paper for masking.
• Dark brown and black archival dye based ink for stamping (Marvey Matchables).
• Mixed Distress inks (Ranger) and watercolour pens for colouring (browns, greens and blues).
• Make up sponges for applying colour.
• White gel pen for adding highlights (Uni-ball Signo).
• Dark brown fine pointed ink pen for adding extra details (alcohol ink Artist Sketching Pen – Kuretake).
• Brayer (Speedball) and ink blending mat (SplodgeAway).
• Glass mat (or your preferred stamping surface).

Stamps Used

• Background Trees – Central tree (Creative Expressions – More Trees), Tree on right (All Night Media – old wooden block). These could easily be substituted with other tree stamps.
• Foreground Foliage – Ferns (unknown brand), Grasses and wild flowers (Creative Expressions – Meadow Flora). Again any foreground foliage could be substituted.
• Tree Foliage – from Elusive Images Tall Trees set (now Chocolate Baroque).
• Scene Building Stamps – All from Stampscapes: Large mid ground trees (Tree Trunk Trio, Birch Trees and Tree Trunk), Rocks (Rocks Duo Small, Rock 1, Rock 2, 3 Rocks and Grass, Rocks and Grass Large), Pebbles (Pebbles), Fencing (Fence, Old Fence), Dog Walker (Dog Walk), Flying Birds (Gulls), Sedges and grasses (Sedge Filler, Tall Grass Small, Tall Grass, Grass Texture).
• Additional pebbles stamp (old block from Art Impressions) and grass sprigs (unknown brand old stamp) – these are not essential so use what you have.

Creating the Scene

1. First stamped onto copy paper, roughly cut out and arranged them to plan out the design.
2. Carefully cut around the larger mid ground trees (Stampscapes) to use as a mask.
3. Used the brown archival ink for stamping and building the scene. This is permanent when dry and is not affected by over painting with water based media (and does not bleed with alcohol ink like solvent based pigment inks).
4. First stamped the large trunk on the left, covered with a mask and stamped the trio of trunks (so that they appeared behind the larger trunk).
5. Next stamped the the birch trees. Covered the image with scrap paper and stamped again to extend the trees to the top of the page. Touched up the join using the brown marker where needed.
6. Masked all the trees and stamped the background trees.
7. Made a circle mask for the moon. Brayered the sky area with blue distress ink. Lifted out a little ink with damp tissue to create clouds.
8. Stamped some foliage onto the birch trees, the fencing, and the distant grasses etc. so that they appear behind the main trees.
9. Removed all the masks, stamped the dog walker, birds and more tree foliage.
10. Continued stamping the path, rocks and grasses. Using the larger elements and rocks towards the front, and smaller further back to create distance. Note – the Stampscapes grasses and sedges work in a clever way – just layer them up and they blend together to create textures of the rocks and grasses. No tricky masking needed.
11. Stamped the bottom edge with large silhouette grasses and ferns using black ink.
12. Coloured the image with water based inks and watercolour pens. The inks need to be applied sparingly to the shiny coated card as it is not designed to take a lot of water. I put colour onto the blending mat and picked up onto make up sponges and applied in thin layers with gentle blending. I used bluer greens towards the back and more vibrant yellow greens in the foreground to create depth.
13. Finally touched up the foreground foliage using watercolour pens directly. Then added additional highlights throughout the image where needed using the white gel pen e.g. highlights on the tree branches and rocks where they catch the light.

Hand Painted T-Shirt using Stencils and Stamps from Clarity (March 2015 Challenge)

I jazzed up a plain yellow cotton peplum vest top using stencils and stamps from Clarity - giving it a FAB summer makeover.

Fabric Painting Materials:

Crafters Companion E-Brush – fitted with adaptor for Spectrum Noir alcohol pens.

Spectrum Noir alcohol pens – oranges & reds (OR1, CR10), blues and turquoises (BT9, BT7, TB5).

Deka transparent fabric paints – Pink (20-29) and Turquoise (20-58).

Textile Color semi opaque paints (Colouricious) – Azul Blue and Red.

Stencils and Stamps from Clarity:

6X6 Stencil - Seaweed Frame

7X7 Stencils – Seed Heads and Torn Shapes (NDSC5)

Clear Stamps – Round Tree (NDC-90), Dandelion Leaf (DANDL-B and DANDL-F), Coral (CORAL-GG), Fossil (NDC83-FF), Nautilus (ND6-G), Sea Horse (AM06-E), Tropical Fish 1 (FISH1-E), Tropical Fish 2 (FISH2-D), Small Tropical Fish (AM25-B), Large Tropical Fish (AM26-E).

How It Was Done:

1. Created a paper mask and sprayed orange alcohol ink lightly around the base of the peplum.

2. Sprayed red alcohol ink through torn shapes stencil – to create rock shapes around the hem.

3. Sprayed turquoise blue alcohol ink through the seed head stencil. Again right around the peplum hem – but also extended up into the body of the shirt.

4. Spayed blue and turquoise alcohol ink onto one edge of the seaweed stencil. Created random patches around the hem and up into the body of the shirt.

5. Partially stamped with the Round Tree stamp and pink fabric paint – around the red rocks to create a coral effect.

6. Used the Coral stamp in Turquoise paint around the hem base.

7. Used the large and small dandelion leaf stamps and turquoise paint to create additional seaweed fronds. Also stamped seahorses around the peplum.

8. Next stamped the nautilus and fossil around the hem in Red and Azul paints. Added a few more seahorses in the Red and Azul. Finally used the lovely fishy stamps around the hem, with a few up into the main body to complete the design.

9. Left the garment overnight to fully dry before iron fixing the paints and inks to make them washable.

 

Hope you like it as much as me. I will enjoy wearing this.